Western Australia in 2014: Warmest year on record

Western Australia recorded its warmest year on record in 2014, in terms of
the mean maximum temperature, and saw its ninth-warmest year on record in terms
of the mean minimum temperature. The State as a whole recorded above average
rainfall in 2014, however below average rainfall was reported for the Southwest
Land Division (SWLD).

State-wide mean maximum temperature highest on record; highest
on record for southwest WA

State-wide mean minimum temperature tenth-highest on record; fourth-highest
on record for southwest WA

WA monthly mean maximum temperatures consistently above average from March
to December

WA monthly mean minimum temperatures only below average in February, June,
and July

State-wide rainfall above average

Below-average rainfall for the SWLD

Western Australia's statewide average maximum temperature was 1.17 °C above
the historical mean in 2014, the highest since comparable records commenced
in 1910 exceeding the record of 1.11 °C set in 2013. The year started
with near-average temperatures for WA in January and February, but then saw
the eighth-warmest autumn on record, the third-warmest winter, the warmest spring
on record, and an above average December. Almost all of the State recorded above
average mean annual maximum temperatures in 2014, and sites in the Pilbara,
Gascoyne, Central Wheat Belt, Great Southern, and Southeast Coastal registered
their warmest or equal-warmest year on record. In the Lower Southwest (southwest
of a line from Jurien Bay to Bremer Bay), the mean annual maximum temperature
was 1.28 °C above the historical mean, the highest annual mean maximum temperature
on record, exceeding the previous highest with an anomaly of 1.27 °C in
2010. The monthly mean maximum temperature for the Lower Southwest was above
the average for all months in 2014.

The annual mean minimum temperature averaged across the State was the tenth-highest
on record (+0.52 °C anomaly), whilst the Lower Southwest recorded its fourth-warmest
year on record in terms of overnight temperatures. Most of WA saw above to very
much above average mean minimum temperatures in 2014, with a few sites in the
eastern Central Wheat Belt and Goldfields recording their warmest or equal warmest
year on record. In contrast, much of the Kimberley, the eastern Northern Interior,
and far northeast Southern Interior recorded near average or below average mean
minima for 2014.

The statewide average rainfall for 2014 was 406 mm, 19% above the historical
average. Rainfall was generally above average across northern, central, and
eastern WA in 2014, and Rawlinna Depot in the Eucla registered its wettest year
in 44 years of record. However, western parts of the State generally recorded
below average rainfall in 2014 and some sites near the west coast, as well as
sites near the southern SWLD coast, recorded rainfall totals in their lowest
10% of records, whilst some saw their driest year for at least 20 years. The
SWLD as a whole recorded below average rainfall in 2014. In most months during
the year, rainfall was near average to above average for the State as a whole,
however March, June, and August received below average rainfall through much
of WA, and winter rainfall for the State was tenth-lowest on record.

Intense tropical lows moved through WA in January and February 2014 bringing
significant rainfall to large parts of the State, whilst two tropical cyclones
(Gillian in March and Jack in April) developed in the Indian Ocean
well west of WA. No tropical cyclones impacted the WA coastline in the 2014
calendar year, the first year this has occurred since 1951.

Notable events in 2014

Very high temperatures impacted western parts of the State between 10 and
12 January with a number of sites in the SWLD experiencing their hottest January
days and nights on record. A bushfire was reported in Parkerville, about 30km
east of Perth on the 12th, destroying 57 houses in the townships of Parkerville,
Stoneville, and Mount Helena, and one fatality was attributed to the event.

An intense tropical low and associated cloudband produced widespread showers,
thunderstorms, and heavy rain over northern, central, and southeastern WA
between 16 and 23 January, and several sites in the Gascoyne, Goldfields,
and Eucla broke their highest daily rainfall record during this event.

A slow moving tropical low tracked through northern, central, and southeast
WA from 7 to 14 February, causing widespread heavy rainfall, including a two-day
total (7th and 8th) of 553 mm at Micromave Tower, an unofficial observing
site near Kununurra. A number of sites in the Kimberley, Southern Interior,
and Eucla registered their highest daily rainfall in February on record during
the event, and Kununurra Aerodrome (163.8 mm) and Cygnet Bay (269.4 mm), both
in the Kimberley, recorded their highest daily falls for any month.

Locations near the west coast of WA experienced a very long dry spell which
ran from mid-spring or early summer 2013 to early or mid-autumn 2014. A record
105 consecutive rainless days was reported at Mandurah in the Lower West,
whilst Kalbarri in the Central West had a record dry spell of 186 days from
21 October 2013 to 24 April 2014 with a total rainfall of only 0.8 mm during
that period on two rain days.

Troughton Island in the north Kimberley broke both its minimum and maximum
temperature records for June on the 1st. The minimum temperature of 27.3 °C
was the highest minimum temperature on record for June in Australia, exceeding
the previous record of 27.2 °C at Cockatoo Island (northeast of the Dampier
Peninsula in the Kimberley) on 1 June 1971.

Two cold fronts produced widespread showers, isolated thunderstorms, and
squally winds in southern WA from 6 to 8 July, with a maximum wind gust of
124 km/h at Cape Naturaliste, the highest wind gust recorded in WA in 2014.
About 26,000 homes in the Lower West and South West lost power during the
event; a tornado was sighted near Balingup, a Bunbury hotel roof was damaged.

A deep middle level trough combined with a surface trough to produce extremely
heavy rainfall on the Dampier Peninsula in the Kimberley on 12 and 13 July.
A daily rainfall of 215.0 mm at Cape Leveque on the 13th was WA's wettest
July day on record, and a two-day rainfall total of 242.0 mm at Cygnet Bay
was more than double its previous highest July monthly rainfall total.

A strong cold front moved across southwest WA on 14 July and produced heavy
showers, thunderstorms, and squally winds causing power outages and significant
damage to property. Three tornadoes were reported in the western suburbs of
Perth, and two men died tragically when their respirators failed as a result
of a power outage. Tornadoes were also reported in Yallingup and Geraldton.

A strong cold front and associated cut-off low moved across southwest WA
on 17 and 18 August, producing thunderstorms, moderate to heavy rainfall and
squally winds. In Fremantle port, a container ship broke its moorings during
the storm and crashed into the Fremantle rail bridge. A second cargo vessel
also broke its moorings and hit a refuelling vessel near the bridge.

Carnarvon Airport experienced an extraordinarily warm winter in 2014 exceeding
the previous winter mean maximum temperature by over 1 °C. The Airport
registered its warmest June day on record on 5 June, then broke its previous
highest August temperature four times on 12, 13, 25 and 28 August. The mean
maximum temperature of 28.2 °C for August at Carnarvon Airport was 2.8
°C higher than its previous August monthly record, and also exceeded the
September record, whilst August 2014 was warmer than any of the spring months
in 2014. Also of note, Carnarvon Airport recorded a maximum temperature above
30 °C in every month of the year for the first time in its 68 year recording
history.

Bidyadanga recorded a maximum temperature of 45.2 °C on 9 October,
the earliest day in spring with a temperature over 45 °C on record
in Australia .

A low pressure system brought widespread thunderstorms and heavy rainfall
across central and southern WA between 18 and 20 October. Many sites in the
SWLD, as well as Laverton Aerodrome in the Goldfields, recorded their wettest
October day on record, whilst a couple of sites in the South Coastal and Great
Southern recorded their highest daily fall for any month.

High minimum temperatures were reported in the west Kimberley in the second
half of November and Broome Airport had three nights that exceeded the previous
record high minimum temperature for November in 76 years of record.

Notes

The annual climate summary lists the main features of the weather in Western Australia using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. Later information, including data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review, usually published in the fourth week of the month.

A Climate Summary is generally published on the first working day of each month.

This statement has been prepared based on information available at
9 am on Tuesday 6 January 2015.
Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change
as new information becomes available.

Averages for individual sites are long-term means based on observations from
all available years of record, which vary widely from site to site.
They are not shown for sites with less than 10 years of record, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.
The median
is sometimes more representative than the
mean
of long-term average rain.

The Rank indicates how rainfall this time compares with the climate record for the site,
based on the
decile ranking
(very low rainfall is in decile 1, low in decile 2 or 3,
average in decile 4 to 7, high in decile 8 or 9
and very high is in decile 10).
The Fraction of average shows how much rain has fallen this time as a
percentage of the long-term mean.